Friction clutches are known which comprise a clutch cover attached to a flywheel with at least one spring acting on a pressure plate to force a driven plate into frictional engagement with the flywheel. It is also known to provide such clutches in the form of twin plate friction clutches wherein the pressure plate is an intermediate pressure plate and the spring acts on the intermediate plate via a further pressure plate and a further driven plate. Furthermore, it is known to provide constant lift mechanisms in such clutches which restrict movement of the pressure plate or intermediate pressure plate away from the flywheel and the driven plate during disengagement of the clutch to a substantially constant distance.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improve form of constant lift mechanism which is more compact than heretofore known constant lift mechanism. Additionally the constant lift mechanism may be capable of fulfilling additional fnctions within the clutch.